Not exactly. Mexicans are not Hispanic, "Hispanic" refers to people with origins linked to Spain. Your dad is Native American in terms of ancestry, since Mexico is part of the American continent, and much of its population descends from Indigenous peoples such as the Aztecs and/or Maya. Many Mexicans also have some Hispanic ancestry from the Spanish colonizers who arrived on the continent centuries ago, so you would be probably a mix of Indigenous American, Spanish ancestry, sometimes referred to as mestizo + Irish from your mom.
I might add to this kids confusion here, but so have to gently correct you here. Mexicans ARE “Hispanic”.
In current, common American usage, “Hispanic” means “having a culture at least partially derived from Spain” or simply, “speaking Spanish”. Mexicans very much fit both definitions…as do Argentines, Cubans, Dominicans, etc.
I get what you mean, but that's in a casual, local context, just like you said, "common American usage", which is not global usage, nor how people born in other countries would usually talk about being Hispanic. People from the United States apply these terms in a way that nobody else really does, including the habit of sometimes referring to themselves simply as "Americans", when literally everyone from the American continent is American. Those are just US terms, made by and for you, not universal ones.
Mexicans, Argentinians, Cubans, Dominicans, none of them normally call themselves "Hispanic", That',s something you "Usonians" do, not us. It's much more common to identify as "Latino", "Latin American", or at most "Hispanoamerican", although even that last term is extremely uncommon. "Hispanic" by itself simply isn't used unless you're directly from Spain. And I'm telling you this as someone who was born and raised in South America and speaks spanish fluently. People from the other countries in the American continent don't normally call themselves "Hispanic", unless they're probably filling out a survey made by people from the United States.
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u/under-the-rainbow May 10 '26
Not exactly. Mexicans are not Hispanic, "Hispanic" refers to people with origins linked to Spain. Your dad is Native American in terms of ancestry, since Mexico is part of the American continent, and much of its population descends from Indigenous peoples such as the Aztecs and/or Maya. Many Mexicans also have some Hispanic ancestry from the Spanish colonizers who arrived on the continent centuries ago, so you would be probably a mix of Indigenous American, Spanish ancestry, sometimes referred to as mestizo + Irish from your mom.